Senate tackles bill to fight cyberthreats

The Senate Thursday took up a long-delayed bill to secure the nation’s power grid, water supply and telecommunications system from cyberattack by hackers or foreign enemies.

But it was unclear whether the bill, which has languished in one form or another for more than five years, will have enough votes to overcome procedural hurdles and get a vote on the chamber floor.

One of the bill’s backers, Connecticut independent Sen. Joseph Lieberman, urged colleagues to allow the bill to move forward, so the Senate could “begin the crucial debate about how best to protect our national and economic security in this wired world where threats come not from land, sea or sky â€” but in invisible strings of ones and zeroes.”